Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are in a battle to become football’s GOAT player (Picture: Getty)
The BBC have mocked Lionel Messi with a graphic depicting Cristiano Ronaldo in the VAR room following Argentina’s defeat to Saudi Arabia.
The Argentines lost their World Cup opener 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in Qatar on Tuesday in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
Messi, likely to be playing in his last World Cup at the age of 35, had opened the scoring after 10 minutes before Saudi Arabia completed a remarkable comeback.
Messi’s goal means that he has now scored seven at World Cups in total – equaling Ronaldo’s tally – ahead of Portugal’s opener on Thursday.
He has also joined Ronaldo in a special club, becoming only the fifth player to score at four different World Cups. Other than Messi and Ronaldo, the only players to do that include Pele, Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose.
But Argentina were denied a two-goal lead around the half-hour mark, with VAR deciding that Lautaro Martinez’s lovely dink should be chalked off for offside.
Argentina had the ball in the back of the net four times in the first half, but three of those efforts were eventually ruled out for offside.
The BBC decided to taunt Messi following the controversial decisions in the game, posting a laugh emoji alongside a graphic that showed his old rival Ronaldo controlling the VAR room, with the caption: ‘Just heard who’s on VAR today.’
One fan replied with a tweet that has racked up almost 2,000 likes as they said: ‘This is supposed to be a professional account and they post things like this.’
Meanwhile, Manchester United have terminated Ronaldo’s contract with immediate effect.
United were furious with Ronaldo’s criticism of Erik ten Hag and the club’s owners during his extensive interview with Piers Morgan, which aired in two parts on TalkTV last week.
Ronaldo insists he still ‘loves’ United and their supporters after his sacking as he posted a statement on Tuesday.
MORE : Lionel Messi sends defiant message after Argentina’s shock World Cup loss to Saudi Arabia
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